Aeroplane September 2017

AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 21

the D520, was cancelled. The

French Air Ministry’s Merlin

order was therefore reduced

to 303 engines, of which

around 60 were Merlin Xs and

the remainder Merlin IIIs.

These were to be fitted to the

Amiot 353 and 356, twin-

finned and single-finned

variants respectively of the

Gnome-Rhône-engined Amiot

354.

Fitted with Merlin X engines

and de Havilland propellers,

the Amiot 356-01 was

extensively flight-tested in the

spring of 1940, alternating

between single and twin-finned

configurations (the Armée de

l’Air insisted on twin fins for its

bombers to give the rear

gunner a clear field of fire). It

was the fastest of the Amiot

350 variants, with a top speed

of 516km/h at 6,200m (320mph

at 19,000ft). During its test

programme the British Air

Ministry supposedly requested

a visit to Boscombe Down for

evaluation, as its cooling

system and radiators were

considered very efficient, but

with the fall of France it never

made it across to the UK.

Instead, back in its single-fin

configuration, it was flown

across the Mediterranean to

North Africa after the June

1940 defeat. Its high cruising

speed of 440km/h (275mp/h)

justified a transfer to Air France

as a fast transport, under the

registration F-BAGP. Returning

from Djibouti it suffered an

undercarriage failure on

landing at Athens on 13

December 1941. Repaired on

Christmas Day, it suffered the

same mishap at the same

airport six weeks later on 27

January 1942. The aircraft was

seized by German forces in

June 1943, and it is possible

that it flew again with I/KG 200.

Two more Amiot 354s, c/ns

14 and 10, started to be

converted to Merlin power by

SNCASE at Marignane in July

and October 1942

respectively, but were also

seized by the Germans before

the conversion was achieved.

Finally, a variant of the

Arsenal VG33, the VG40, was

to use a Merlin, but the project

did not progress beyond the

paper stage.

Jakob Whitfield

Shorts at sea

Having a personal connection

— my grandfather was an air

mechanic on Ark Royal II from

July 1915 through to the tail

end of 1917 — it was good to

read such a well-researched

feature as Grant Newman’s

‘Shipborne into Battle’ on the

Dardanelles campaign in the

July Aeroplane.

It was a particular relief to

see the Short Type 166s

identified correctly, these

particular machines so often

being mislabelled as Type

184s. I must, however, take

issue with the wording of the

caption for the photograph of

the Type 166 on page 38 in

which it is stated: “...the 166

did not have the performance

to carry a torpedo aloft in the

conditions in the Aegean”. All

six of the original production

batch of Type 166s, numbers

161-166, were delivered to Ark

Royal from April to October

1915, complete with the

crutches necessary for carrying

such ordnance — if not the

necessary mechanism to

launch them.

It is true that the Type 166

never did actually drop a

torpedo in anger, but it would

seem that the carrying and

delivery of torpedoes was

indeed achieved by this type

of seaplane. The weekly

operations report from Air

Service Headquarters, Mudros,

for 31 March 1916, states:

“Further experiments have

been carried out with [a]

200hp Short Seaplane [Type

166] carrying a torpedo. In the

last flight complete success

was attained, the attack being

delivered from a thousand

yards and a hit scored. The

dropping gear is, however,

improvised and may not, in

consequence, prove reliable,

but the results obtained justify

as many of the 200hp Short

Seaplanes as possible being

fitted with it to meet the

emergency of the enemy fleet

offering a target, before the

arrival of the proper dropping

gear from England.”

The next report, dated 7

April, stated: ‘No further

torpedo carrying experiments

have been undertaken as the

only seaplane in the ship [HMS

Ark Royal] which is able to

carry a torpedo has now been

fitted and tested and is

accordingly being preserved in

case a target should be

offered before other machines

have been fitted.”

The most likely aircraft to

have undertaken these

torpedo-carrying flights would

have been number 163. This

machine is noted in the ship’s

log of 30 March as returning

Skywriters

after a 30-minute

“experimental flight”, this

preceded by several similar

short flights in the days

beforehand. Four of Ark

Royal’s other Type 166s were,

at this time, operating from

the seaplane base at Stavros

on photo-reconnaissance

duties. All these torpedo

experiments were seemingly

carried out in Mudros Bay, Ark

Royal having arrived there

from Salonika, on 15 March.

More interesting information

relating to the possible use of

torpedoes is to be found in a

document dated 21 February

1916, detailing proposals for

future operations. Headed

Headquarters, RNAS Mudros,

a section of it states: “...

seaplanes at Stavros will be

available for torpedo and

anti-submarine work”. Also:

“two Short seaplanes ...

should be sent to Imbros with

torpedoes and bombs and

kept in readiness to operate

from Lake Aliki as opportunity

offers in the Dardanelles.”

History tells us that no

enemy targets were

forthcoming, and it would

seem that these flights from

Ark Royal would be the last of

any such experiments

involving the Type 166 and

torpedoes. The next time one

of Ark Royal’s aircraft was

equipped with such ordnance

would be in January 1918

when a Short Type 184 was

tested in readiness for a

possible attack on the German

battle cruiser SMS Goeben

— but that is another story

altogether.

As an aside, the machine

illustrated on page 38 is

probably the last of the

original batch, number 166,

and the location is almost

certainly Talikna Point in

Mudros Bay. Its serial was

blanked out as part of the

process of re-marking that was

carried out on Ark Royal’s

aircraft during the winter of

1915-16.

Peter Cowlan,

Ottery St Mary, Devon

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correspondence.

Some things never change...

I have just received the July copy of Aeroplane here in

Helena, Montana and thought you might like to see a

picture of Arthur Williams’ Piper J-3 (featured in that month’s

Hangar Talk column) taken on the occasion of its first flight

after I’d repaired and rebuilt it — on 30 July 1978! Not much

has changed.

I bought the aeroplane from Sabena in Belgium after it

had been put on its back at Grimbergen by a member of

Sabena’s flying club. I actually purchased two, the other

becoming G-BDEZ. The photograph was taken at Deanland,

East Sussex, where I operated a maintenance set-up when

not flying TriStars for BA. At the time I was an engineer and

a PFA inspector amongst other things.

Brian Dunlop

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